May 12 - 15: Zion National Park

The Court of the Three Patriarchs is one of the first stops on the shuttle ride. Most of the religious names of the features of the park were dubbed by a Methodist minister, not the Mormons as one would expect.



We took a hike to the three Emerald Pools, which weren't...maybe it was too dry already. But on the walk back down the trail, we got a magnificent view of Zion Canyon and the Virgin River that created it.




On the Riverside Walk, we were impressed at being able to walk next to a river at the base of sheer canyon walls that loomed into the sky. Two charming hikers from the Self Realization Fellowship of Encintas took our picture and we traded camping stories.



For the second time at Zion, I was again forced to pay $15 to drive our Navion down the center of the tunnel because we are too wide ... we aren't... and I found out from a owner of a rig like ours who went through it that very morning, he didn't have to pay....



However, the price is worth it because as you emerge from this mile long tunnel, the view of the upper Zion features is stunning. The top of Zion is made up of ancient petrified sand dunes whose ridges were blown in cross hatched directions before they solidified into solid rock.